tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70792124717739240672024-02-20T08:22:06.697+01:00Un blog de ciencia ficción en busca de un nombreThe Word for the Blog is ScientiFictionCarlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-1390401508355466482024-01-10T18:25:00.002+01:002024-01-10T18:27:55.403+01:00Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan (Giants, #1)<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana; font-style: italic; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I admit that I enjoyed this classic science fiction novel. Classic at an unusual time, I must say,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> since it was published in 1977; that is, at the height of the New Wave; but in any case, as I say, with an absolutely classic flavor. The intrigue of ‘Inherit the Stars’ deals (you can read more in the synopsis of the book) about the discovery on our Moon of a human astronaut who was buried 50,000 years ago!</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zNaui7H9AU-A_Qd52QJDe7bsO6f_CI-AhlRnk6MhQF2ftV_tn4B1o7O70Cw4USEhtpMV4hUKMuOGc7fzX0nBK35oCnvBS2N4CDWNfFe6IEdHHQN9c6fDAsuYw3g-MIUeCwjYYAfU0w19tfowUigQGmUi7USCjdGZhw9IVaR4SgUx8879M5GasOVwKPo/s1000/Inherit%20the%20Stars%20-%20James%20P.%20Hogan-%20Blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="584" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6zNaui7H9AU-A_Qd52QJDe7bsO6f_CI-AhlRnk6MhQF2ftV_tn4B1o7O70Cw4USEhtpMV4hUKMuOGc7fzX0nBK35oCnvBS2N4CDWNfFe6IEdHHQN9c6fDAsuYw3g-MIUeCwjYYAfU0w19tfowUigQGmUi7USCjdGZhw9IVaR4SgUx8879M5GasOVwKPo/w374-h640/Inherit%20the%20Stars%20-%20James%20P.%20Hogan-%20Blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" width="374" /></a></div>Thus, with this captivating enigma - and others that emerge - the novel<br /> develops. When I say a classic aftertaste, I mean that the author dedicates himself to solving this enigma as if it were a mystery novel, but instead of police clues in this case we have scientific ones, which leads him to long and passionate digressions on various scientific aspects (Isaac Asimov style explanations, to understand us, and of course reflecting the state of the art in 1977).</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">It has not been difficult for me to read it, on the contrary, as I say I have enjoyed it, among other things for the difference with much of the literature that I'm currently reading, but that it may serve as a warning for readers. Another issue that I must warn is that it is also absolutely classic with gender relations: that is, for example, that men have logical thinking and women have feminine intuition, and so on...</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">In short, an absolutely optimistic novel regarding the benefits of science and technology. Also with a good ending that improves the entire novel.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">At the moment I don't know yet if I will read the sequels.</div></span></span><p></p>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-19673708917879123362024-01-10T17:15:00.005+01:002024-01-10T18:25:56.705+01:00Noosphère par Audrey Pleynet<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>(Je sais qu'il pourrait y avoir des erreurs dans cette revue. J'essaie d'améliorer mon français, merci)</i></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJiQOmnYf_xjx3ZFAl2Glgt5b-Kt8uwU948DSRtfaPoz0VDJ1yldyC_QdJEymWPIfetIg9GSmK3ImP5G9g0ahK95Y1g41pQykWEmB5U80C7XekSVA3A24t3N4118rXIdEP2xR3DyNy4ft9ZTmdSOW1L4cujzXM3_TEUghl-nmhkknqDGRY48gobhNv3TM/w426-h640/Noosph%C3%A8re%20-%20Audrey%20Pleynet-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" width="426" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Superbe couverture du roman</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">Ceci est ma première critique en français :-)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">J'ai adoré Rossignol et voilà que je lis ce précédent roman de l'auteur.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;">La prémisse est fascinante. Dans un avenir proche, apparaît la Noosphère du titre, qui est essentiellement un monde d'idées qui devient du jour au lendemain accessible à tous les habitants de la Terre. Autrement dit, tout le monde peut consulter instantanément toutes les informations. Cela peut sembler une bénédiction au premier abord - et c'est effectivement le cas - mais cela conduit aussi, par exemple, à des révolutions politiques ou à la perte du secret commercial. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Le fait est que l’auteur développe ensuite le roman de manière assez conventionnelle, c’est-à-dire comme un thriller futuriste.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Dans l'ensemble, la lecture est assez divertissante et je considère qu'elle en valait la peine, mais si vous voulez une recommandation, lisez le magnifique Roussignol dont j'ai parlé précédemment, dans lequel il semble que l'auteur ait déjà trouvé son propre style littéraire.</div></span></div>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-62139261866635884182023-06-09T14:54:00.002+02:002023-06-09T16:03:25.589+02:00La plantilla d'Olga Ravn<span id="docs-internal-guid-abdace4c-7fff-7239-23c0-6bd4447d573c"><div style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ciència-ficció reflexiva, ambientada en un futur distant, per analitzar amb perspectiva algunes preocupacions del present, com ara la conciliació de les qualitats de l'ésser humà, com ara l'empatia o el sentit comunitari, amb el treball a les grans corporacions i els seus corresponents interessos. L'autora, en la seva vivència personal, s'hi troba en el cas de la seva maternitat, segons explica en una entrevista al diari <i>Ara</i>. D'aquí el títol de la novel·la, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Los empleados</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> en la traducció castellana.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">L'anterior connecta amb un tema clàssic de la ciència-ficció però alhora molt vigent avui en dia, com és la creació d'intel·ligències artificials, a la novel·la en forma d'éssers humans artificials, i les tensions que això comporta entre les dues "races": Si bé a la nau tots són companys de feina, els humanoids són, clar, el col·lectiu discriminat; o més ben dit, doblement alienat: per una banda, per la seva condició d'empleats/des d’una gran corporació i, per l'altra, per ser considerats com un simulacre dels vertaders éssers humans.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyRsgpktkqZJkd44-9sAXeV9_h3__DSbHTlOXvMSfBJhBOhBswW7bVZfk1I6Q-phLjAwaH57h55glaNclqeeoaomBWAIbz8ALCm1ruWnHxwVtB_-N7CmgHcw75ZppsZdFOTK3N0MiiygXS_uDMabvWAejIgFtPbrTwcagV7zXvy25zbyiHLcVKV0U/s2597/La%20plantilla%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2597" data-original-width="1644" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxyRsgpktkqZJkd44-9sAXeV9_h3__DSbHTlOXvMSfBJhBOhBswW7bVZfk1I6Q-phLjAwaH57h55glaNclqeeoaomBWAIbz8ALCm1ruWnHxwVtB_-N7CmgHcw75ZppsZdFOTK3N0MiiygXS_uDMabvWAejIgFtPbrTwcagV7zXvy25zbyiHLcVKV0U/w254-h400/La%20plantilla%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpeg" width="254" /></a><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tot això condensat en l'entorn aïllat d'una nau espacial situada a molts anys llum del nostre planeta. És a dir, la novel·la es pot entendre com un experiment mental fet al millor laboratori possible (fa poc vaig gaudir de <i>La nau</i> de Pau Planas, amb un plantejament de base similar, si bé el llibre se centra en altres aspectes).</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A la novela s'esmenta també un planeta, amb el convenient nom de <i>Nova descoberta</i>, i uns objectes misteriosos que han pujat a la nau - l'incognoscible, a la manera de </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Solaris</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> de Stanislaw Lem - que actuen una mica com<i> deus ex machina</i>.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">La novel·la es divideix en cent vuitanta micro capítols, en forma de la resposta de cada empleat/da a un hipotètic qüestionari de la corporació. Resumint, es tracta de ciència-ficció tranquil·la, ben escrita i amb algun moment sublim. Per a degustar i reflexionar una mica.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-54753125302989607842023-03-08T17:39:00.002+01:002023-03-09T21:22:23.374+01:00Moonraker by Ian Fleming<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Having seen all the movies, this is my first James Bond novel and I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was the reading. I started with <i>Moonraker</i> because it is the highest rated in the series. </span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f1c421e6-7fff-3ccb-1b0e-a93455b1f6b2"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To begin I must say that the book is very different from the movie. In this regard, contrary to many opinions, I liked Roger Moore's film (it might have something to do with the fact that it was science fiction ;-).</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQ41zKThqxqCnh80cNJIE43WDtQXbz4wF7Asjlz78qycYbgjJ4RubcKldJl_L7siq1VzwQV_lsJXrbYft8AkBs-KTDPUjIN1bZXgWudteRsspBGEfdM04dHNw5kaknZhtXPK01RAfL_3U7aSWTe6XWtzaVZ_7lZU78_964ZVmCgLpePbLqwsGG9lJ/s1590/Moonraker_29.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1590" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQ41zKThqxqCnh80cNJIE43WDtQXbz4wF7Asjlz78qycYbgjJ4RubcKldJl_L7siq1VzwQV_lsJXrbYft8AkBs-KTDPUjIN1bZXgWudteRsspBGEfdM04dHNw5kaknZhtXPK01RAfL_3U7aSWTe6XWtzaVZ_7lZU78_964ZVmCgLpePbLqwsGG9lJ/w251-h400/Moonraker_29.webp" width="251" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First paperback edition UK (1961)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">About the book, I check that Ian Fleming knew how to set a spy novel, or more specifically a spy fiction novel or “Spy-Fi”. For example, the technical descriptions are good, specifically in the case of the missile that gives its name to the novel (more similar to a World War II V2 than a current rocket); although today they are somewhat outdated, they complement the novel well and currently give it a touch "retro" which I find delightful.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the other hand, I was very intrigued by the treatment of women in the 007 novels. Well, no surprise here, the man commands and disposes, in accordance with the prevailing ideas of the time (the novel was published in 1955). However, it should be noted that the heroine, Miss Gala Brand, actively participates in the plot and, by the way, she resists the charms of James Bond (but because she is engaged to another man). More peculiar is the author description -in the mouth of James Bond- of the women who work as MI5 secretaries, destined to be "spinsters", since a love relationship is incompatible with the necessary discretion in their work, which is not the case with the men.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No surprise either with 007's main adversary, Hugo Drax, as evil as you would expect.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the recent controversy (see link below) that it is planned to correct the James Bond novels, particularly for some racist aspects, I prefer to read them as they were written, with their original doses of racism, colonialism and machismo. They were simply other times, in which there were acceptable things that now -fortunately- they are not. In other words, what was tolerated 70 years ago is not accepted today, and some that is currently being accepted in our time it will not be so in 70 years from now (if the planet holds out, of course). On the other hand, about the disclaimer by the editors: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace</i>, I find it correct and the explanation could even be expanded further</span><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> highlighting these undesirable aspects of the novel, but I not agree with correcting the original work. After all, I think that it should be the reader himself (or herself) who should criticize and judge whether these aspects of the novel are appropriate or not.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">You can see the news mentioned here: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/27/james-bond-novels-to-be-reissued-with-racial-references-removed" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/27/james-bond-novels-to-be-reissued-with-racial-references-removed</span></a></div></span></span></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-61408802887740284292023-02-27T20:09:00.003+01:002023-02-27T20:12:17.246+01:00Eversion by Alastair Reynolds<p style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXH0C1BpTwb_biaH8_n4GfYwrPhj3Gg3ae9Q-6ujEUDhm9ODOchzEa6Ytj_8NIElLyHyt4pEyNgZaydn60qgMVzWFkBG8Z6f5mCSL4cqJXG3ZKNqoOBsehoV6ar8u0-RyJvF35ECTbRDihf2_gOYm9WaJA3oVKb0bv_iR2cix4Ka8DGiG3JaA4Wk2a/s597/58727132.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="384" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXH0C1BpTwb_biaH8_n4GfYwrPhj3Gg3ae9Q-6ujEUDhm9ODOchzEa6Ytj_8NIElLyHyt4pEyNgZaydn60qgMVzWFkBG8Z6f5mCSL4cqJXG3ZKNqoOBsehoV6ar8u0-RyJvF35ECTbRDihf2_gOYm9WaJA3oVKb0bv_iR2cix4Ka8DGiG3JaA4Wk2a/w412-h640/58727132.jpg" width="412" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Too bad I don't have enough time to comment properly this novel. Suffice it to say that it is good science fiction and that I am happy to know that, with so many first novels currently being published (nothing against new authors, of course, all of them are very welcome), established writers like Alastair Reynolds are still contributing with their talented works to the science fiction genre.</span></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Eversion is a standalone novel. About the plot: It starts out as a classic voyage of exploration in the arctic and ends up turning into something more fantastic and at the same time more sinister. Recommended. </div></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-76540744186235841732023-02-27T20:05:00.002+01:002023-02-27T20:12:30.107+01:00La nau de Pau Planas<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7qpYkpsoiPIluFke6eGVd325AUsg50DYSnJNPEevjpyEAyBpj6dlv5dJCwUsNjnhNZBIpADNWYjdscNavEfgUNdkY_SGJJYQyZWF2EGsoAQmARKspjGTRJx7hlz1mNZ5dtiCk6thi3uCuwpM7B0c6HRTSoowNntkKjmgdpCprtE_WGsnZXyQM2st/s695/2023-02-27%20(3).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="429" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7qpYkpsoiPIluFke6eGVd325AUsg50DYSnJNPEevjpyEAyBpj6dlv5dJCwUsNjnhNZBIpADNWYjdscNavEfgUNdkY_SGJJYQyZWF2EGsoAQmARKspjGTRJx7hlz1mNZ5dtiCk6thi3uCuwpM7B0c6HRTSoowNntkKjmgdpCprtE_WGsnZXyQM2st/w397-h640/2023-02-27%20(3).png" width="397" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Feia temps que li anava al darrere: una obra guanyadora del premi literari gironí Just M. Casero i que alhora sigui ciència-ficció penso jo que té el seu mèrit. Així que finalment m'he acostat a la meva biblioteca de capçalera, tot i què me n'adono que també està disponible en suport electrònic. </div></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Novel·la curta, bona lectura. El protagonista explica les seves reflexions en mig d'un viatge espacial cap a un destí promès, el planeta Xeix. La vida a la nau aparenta ser força idíl·lica, sobretot si es compara - segons es va sabent, al llarg de la narració se'ns va presentant els diversos tripulants- amb la que deixen enrere al planeta Terra, on tenen una vida bastant de "M"...</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span face=""Proxima Nova", Montserrat, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">M'ha agradat. Comprovo que el Pau Planas té més llibres publicats, li seguiré la pista doncs. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-56245130459602827492023-02-02T16:26:00.013+01:002023-02-02T16:37:13.468+01:00La glàndula d'Ícar d'Anna Starobínets<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">El llibre conté set relats i cadascun recrea un petit univers, un univers amb la signatura de l`autora.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">La temàtica de per sí es variada. Al relat que dona nom al llibre es planteja una situació en la que es contraposa el què s’espera dels homes en societat versus la seva identitat podríem dir que genètica. A <i>City</i> aborda l’estil de vida amb el què sovint ens imposen els mass media (resumint: el somni americà) en contrast amb una indigesta realitat. Amb el relat <i>El pigall</i> parla d’una possible invasió extraterrestre i a <i>El paràsit</i> d’una mena de mutant (bé, podria ser un mutant però és més <i>weird</i> que això) i del fanatisme religiós. <i>La frontera</i> va d’escapades en el temps. A <i>Pastures delicioses</i>, sobre el tràfic no ja d'òrgans sinó de cossos sencers. El darrer relat, <i>Tranx</i>, el més llarg, de la influència dels <i>estris amb pantalla</i> als infants.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8D3lVpZtwtuYOg34Wiofmncge8PX1SUNqxuLh9ryqJrsSAIciy8X_89GajaA1UY7KHhbcZZF9pEsQGegmW1oh4_ShMyr7cOdrky_w0_ckktUJMPhxEQfqCSss60RtT7gxODuyr22gJ134beol16_7pr_BIaLw56jvz76sGpA4xyUR81LJtOkvu8XQ/s1024/la-glandula-d-icar-anna-starobinets-mai-mes-672x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="672" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8D3lVpZtwtuYOg34Wiofmncge8PX1SUNqxuLh9ryqJrsSAIciy8X_89GajaA1UY7KHhbcZZF9pEsQGegmW1oh4_ShMyr7cOdrky_w0_ckktUJMPhxEQfqCSss60RtT7gxODuyr22gJ134beol16_7pr_BIaLw56jvz76sGpA4xyUR81LJtOkvu8XQ/w421-h640/la-glandula-d-icar-anna-starobinets-mai-mes-672x1024.jpg" width="421" /></a></div>Cadascun d'aquests relats s'allunya del quotidià per mostrar-nos el que és radicalment estrany, però alhora ens convida a reflexionar si el que nosaltres anomenem normalitat també pot considerar extraordinari, o bé rar i angoixant; o fins i tot inacceptable, si ens parem a pensar, ja que l’autora mostra un punt crític amb la nostra societat tecnològica.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">No sabria classificar els gèneres que toca l’autora, té parts de <i>weird</i> i de realisme màgic, i alhora components de ciència ficció i distopia. Al substrat de cada relat, però, s’hi troben les nostres pors més quotidianes: la mare que tota sola s’ha de fer càrrec dels fills, el veure's superat per les noves tecnologies, l’envelliment o bé la pèrdua d'identitat, entre d’altres.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">En conjunt, tots els relats els considero molt bons, si bé alguns estan més ben resolts que d’altres, potser per la intenció de d'experimentar de l'escriptora. Això sí, cal tenir present que l’Anna Starobínets no fa gaires concessions als lectors/es: es una lectura sovint incòmoda, però alhora molt gratificant.</div></span></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-35010617072455880552023-01-05T21:18:00.001+01:002023-02-02T16:30:49.451+01:00Celestial by M. D. Lachlan<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)</span></span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A peculiar reading, with a taste of New Wave but adapted to current times. I started reading this book because a known author recommended it. So I started without even having read the synopsis and I must confess that my expectation was one and the reading experience has been quite different. When I started reading I thought it was a hard alternative history novel about the Space Race between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, Ian Sales style, and I found a very different story; although some aspect that Mr. Sales develops in The Apollo Quartet stories (highly recommended by the way) is also present here but... my lips are sealed.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4604c224-7fff-fc87-88fc-728c43c01154"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgrt758AuccAhj8pJMYddBJUFiGTzN0ZYqwwMJHItuAYv4qIzNg3bKlGST1SKLQ6eiR6t2QR0Ivdupr5deAFZQLw9pjN8WuocuyOCnpeA6ezYS5SbGWwXAH60--vmIrMLl-cMmY-zLnCV2MnWFbmFa9YBrkiPCs3Efp-R2TJJLHDayEeneEy983hW/s1250/Celestial%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="828" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgrt758AuccAhj8pJMYddBJUFiGTzN0ZYqwwMJHItuAYv4qIzNg3bKlGST1SKLQ6eiR6t2QR0Ivdupr5deAFZQLw9pjN8WuocuyOCnpeA6ezYS5SbGWwXAH60--vmIrMLl-cMmY-zLnCV2MnWFbmFa9YBrkiPCs3Efp-R2TJJLHDayEeneEy983hW/w265-h400/Celestial%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.webp" width="265" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I must say that the development has been a bit long for me and maybe some of the situations created by the characters could have been shortened. So most of the book is like a lysergic trip that lasts a little too long… So along the way I have had time to think about… a flawed novel? But not really. An excessive plot pretentiousness? In the end, I verify that neither is the case.</div></span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The novel deals about a mysterious discovery on the Moon, but this is actually an excuse for an introspective journey of humanity itself, and particularly of the astronauts and cosmonauts involved in this situation. Recalling a time in my life when I enjoyed meditation - although my knowledge of the subject remains superficial - the novel makes sense and its main premise I think is well-thought-out.</span></div></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">In summary, in my opinion what the author proposes is difficult to achieve, but I believe that he comes out successful with the proposal.</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-68802367700203454092023-01-01T01:30:00.003+01:002023-01-01T01:32:52.194+01:00The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television by Koren Shadmi<span id="docs-internal-guid-e60dd15f-7fff-fd91-9fcf-0c4a2d41dac8"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)</span></span><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lately I've been interested in historical and biographical comics and this is a good example of what I like: a biography of the creator of the cult series Twilight Zone.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CSEgTbnQN1f2yXCnTTs7Vbd6HJiuwu6iSOMkVldV_GsYv-kiyyI9IZhqcRAu7Jpta4xOvAzQD_GUTKBbI-4yuKk6lzAaJbGphy62gJqCL9WJkdFpZGJqQoYGFTcVJodGsW4RjL43IjM02JAEm5CvHYy-VTk9VkDwxgMWLJhmpQV3sAzRWhSswYzq/s537/Twilight%20Man%20-blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CSEgTbnQN1f2yXCnTTs7Vbd6HJiuwu6iSOMkVldV_GsYv-kiyyI9IZhqcRAu7Jpta4xOvAzQD_GUTKBbI-4yuKk6lzAaJbGphy62gJqCL9WJkdFpZGJqQoYGFTcVJodGsW4RjL43IjM02JAEm5CvHYy-VTk9VkDwxgMWLJhmpQV3sAzRWhSswYzq/w298-h400/Twilight%20Man%20-blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Contrary to the first thing that one might think, this is not a story with fantastic overtones, but rather focuses on the purely biographical aspect of Rod Serling, his beginnings long before he was known as the legendary television creator for which he is remembered today: from his hard period as a paratrooper assigned to the Philippines in World War II until his difficult and long escalation on the radio and later in the new medium of television, until he managed to position himself as the media star thanks to this series... even though nothing lasts forever.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I think it is an excellent choice by the author that the drawings are in black and white, as was the television of his time, as well as his austere but also impressive when necessary style. As I have commented before, the script focuses on the purely biographical (in this aspect I understand that it is well documented) and for this reason it does not stop captivating the reader throughout all the reading.</span></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYN5zGus0kId5ve4Ui5EBYDBD1S8YJWqGHvGNw2CIIr3vO9tHD-2xjD5dd8vAU6wbjU7oEowazpSAQconRx_9ZYFiyQcuJALRwH6oUDgj61wuj-aoVOGbolre6t8Pelz77jhj-rngpQF02sLU7s7X7eTJfgtLIX2shnIlbx2qhPpU6MrYK6ri-aYHr/s1505/Screenshot_20230101_012539_Kindle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1505" data-original-width="1075" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYN5zGus0kId5ve4Ui5EBYDBD1S8YJWqGHvGNw2CIIr3vO9tHD-2xjD5dd8vAU6wbjU7oEowazpSAQconRx_9ZYFiyQcuJALRwH6oUDgj61wuj-aoVOGbolre6t8Pelz77jhj-rngpQF02sLU7s7X7eTJfgtLIX2shnIlbx2qhPpU6MrYK6ri-aYHr/s320/Screenshot_20230101_012539_Kindle.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMbkhRq_NtA0PuzrID2wi9vR7D3OJNqC9Ajl9jTTVTeeQ_qITsSkTW4sWjmcC1jcOJFrDZaIZ8smA_cX2yiaI4Fsc7VMUCXgaOh5GXXoeujfpsgpAPhwOSps1bNmk5aOHvCquzGBoafVx88UFFM6tIOIOJC_n8N1-H74kKxlV9GI5IMFCaascHJZ3/s1539/Screenshot_20230101_012011_Kindle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1539" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMbkhRq_NtA0PuzrID2wi9vR7D3OJNqC9Ajl9jTTVTeeQ_qITsSkTW4sWjmcC1jcOJFrDZaIZ8smA_cX2yiaI4Fsc7VMUCXgaOh5GXXoeujfpsgpAPhwOSps1bNmk5aOHvCquzGBoafVx88UFFM6tIOIOJC_n8N1-H74kKxlV9GI5IMFCaascHJZ3/s320/Screenshot_20230101_012011_Kindle.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br />Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-86910000683442944262022-12-10T16:49:00.001+01:002022-12-10T16:49:36.535+01:00Earth Abides by George R. Stewart<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLsJZnCQCDPUJH1mPvxMmlICbzPzoLULgkVDU3Ce-Xwun2Ia2FJzV9Php1Rv_J7Wvz3jlPZCEkGOAwq0qKNDm8ymzgXj_r0Q1-OHvHX0XbwvG5O2CNFlyAOlQ19KVSOuzAJsr7p-cwiFJu_xGQjI8OYY9qc0xH_bA1uuuWIFGYwQuSVMillg7n5VzO/s1125/Earth%20Abides%201%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="759" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLsJZnCQCDPUJH1mPvxMmlICbzPzoLULgkVDU3Ce-Xwun2Ia2FJzV9Php1Rv_J7Wvz3jlPZCEkGOAwq0qKNDm8ymzgXj_r0Q1-OHvHX0XbwvG5O2CNFlyAOlQ19KVSOuzAJsr7p-cwiFJu_xGQjI8OYY9qc0xH_bA1uuuWIFGYwQuSVMillg7n5VzO/w432-h640/Earth%20Abides%201%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cover of the first edition, 1949</span></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;">(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have read a few novels about the end of the world. This is one of the most valued and now I understand why. Although it may not be its most important quality, this book remains relevant today -with the Covid-19 pandemic still active throughout the planet-, which in itself gives a lot to think about. Earth Abides was published in 1949, when the West was recovering from the wounds of World War II (although the US did not experience it first hand) but it does not seem clear to me that this is related to the subject. On the contrary, the book describes a society prosperous and opulent and it does not imagine a state of violence when the catastrophe occurs. In any case, this book maintains all its verisimilitude today.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-48e11497-7fff-2cfe-7003-0da6744426d6"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So regarding the reading, the first aspect that surprised me is that it describes a <i>quiet</i> end of the world. That is, a pandemic has wiped out almost all of humanity,; without violence, without the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">homo lupus homini</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which is the first thing that one would think of in this situation: that is a state of barbarism (although the author leaves open the possibility that the tribe of Ish -the protagonist of our story- was an exception). In any case, the most important subject is raised: how to change a civilized way of life for a tribal state totally dependent on nature. This is a question that the author does not take for granted; on the contrary, he asks himself and also asks the reader: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What would we do if…?</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This is the essence of this book and also the essence of science fiction.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Today it could happen that a great catastrophe: a meteorite, a pandemic like the one the book deals with, the Third World War or a climatic collapse... It seems that all these dangers loom over our heads; but it could also happen that civilization continues as we know it, with more or less traumatic changes but not catastrophic or terminal enough to end our way of life. It doesn't really matter, because this book is basically about life itself, about life as we human beings understand it, and within the apocalyptic context imagined by the author, the questions remain the same: What do we live for? What do we die for?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p></span><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a very patient way, like the protagonist of the story, George R. Steward describes very plausibly an end of the world but... <i>Earth Abides.</i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6tKSCq1RO6Dbqd2nwbMEQyqBAPpEs8pHosDg_wvWtTfzITDRieYAbUhWJjraMiuDGOoas34rMpyO8vpO9pgu6bdymkzmNuBKGKt6VdJluE6ojPzVCk4U2CC7PzFt1UzYsBTfkMpuEZs4L7q_WEAfDdq-AyzW9BV0YdqBkup4PDKxUsBryt6EFlXL/s2345/Earth%20Abides%202%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2345" data-original-width="1529" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6tKSCq1RO6Dbqd2nwbMEQyqBAPpEs8pHosDg_wvWtTfzITDRieYAbUhWJjraMiuDGOoas34rMpyO8vpO9pgu6bdymkzmNuBKGKt6VdJluE6ojPzVCk4U2CC7PzFt1UzYsBTfkMpuEZs4L7q_WEAfDdq-AyzW9BV0YdqBkup4PDKxUsBryt6EFlXL/w418-h640/Earth%20Abides%202%20-%20blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br /></i></span></span><p></p><br />Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-51609689703815680182022-11-13T18:32:00.005+01:002022-11-13T18:35:29.431+01:00The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.<p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFG1QsYvfUpRUBtyBMD6k9UatjXzkrVId0Sdgi3eEFK45HDQ9iVYvScOdlNXBDduci_t9fbd0HJ34UoR8TKtof9eTRSNXUeolQ99cQHUnf85T37uuZ-Nyz28KvDmhLmuPDPD0aSO7cUifZ3oh9HTE5tovKav3cnVR5TIaIjT6775ZJTVAfyDD_k3I/s858/Captura.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="566" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFG1QsYvfUpRUBtyBMD6k9UatjXzkrVId0Sdgi3eEFK45HDQ9iVYvScOdlNXBDduci_t9fbd0HJ34UoR8TKtof9eTRSNXUeolQ99cQHUnf85T37uuZ-Nyz28KvDmhLmuPDPD0aSO7cUifZ3oh9HTE5tovKav3cnVR5TIaIjT6775ZJTVAfyDD_k3I/w422-h640/Captura.PNG" width="422" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana;">I assume there is little I can say about this book that has not already been told. My fault for not reading it earlier.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana;">Anyway, a short comment. For me, the achievement of this book is to very cleverly mix a wonderful sense of humor with some tropes of science fiction (such as galactic empires from space opera stories or also artificial intelligence), in a way that may seem like a light reading but that actually contains some bold insights. For example, a resource that the author uses is to show our tiny human problems on a galactic scale, which helps to put everything (philosophically) in perspective. So, in this book, we, the humans, in our unconcerned planetary isolation, understand little of what goes on at the galactic level, including things that can affect us, let's say -ahem!- directly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana;">So Douglas Adams invites to ask ourselves: What if our beloved and also mistreated planet, often treated as the center of Creation, was just a minuscule curiosity in the galactic order?</span></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana;">I've been told not to bother reading the sequels so I'm keeping the good memories of this one.</span></p>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-70330316534724945622022-11-07T08:01:00.004+01:002022-11-10T22:50:13.256+01:00The This by Adam Roberts.<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPlGiKHlB7JPis02ZaU5KwwPxOegxnMrs2Wh98jpoH5CQxzPFrthEtulprkS_UPu9dar4hJ-TNegEn0mX1yWH96tThC_FKeTtFwy7ryRNIViMWlghTnpnppsJHXyFtWraZBiVOyK_W0R__gU-aiEJtq3YMVmAZxaMAAVc_yoApOiQoMZbCwpjjmhQp/s600/the%20this%20review%20adam%20roberts.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="384" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPlGiKHlB7JPis02ZaU5KwwPxOegxnMrs2Wh98jpoH5CQxzPFrthEtulprkS_UPu9dar4hJ-TNegEn0mX1yWH96tThC_FKeTtFwy7ryRNIViMWlghTnpnppsJHXyFtWraZBiVOyK_W0R__gU-aiEJtq3YMVmAZxaMAAVc_yoApOiQoMZbCwpjjmhQp/w410-h640/the%20this%20review%20adam%20roberts.jpeg" width="410" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic;">(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I think I can contribute little to this review. The book begins as one thing and ends as quite another... or not. This "becoming" of the plot is well thought out and if there is something that cannot be discussed about the author, it is his talent.</div></span><p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Along the way I suppose I have missed details, especially in the last part of the novel. A few perhaps? Not too many I hope. In one of these last chapters there is a rather daring twist that leaves me perplexed. A foreign object that apparently clashes with the rest of the novel and that I understand as a tribute to a great classic which fortunately I read very recently (a clue: it starts with 19 and ends with 84). I should also clarify that at the end of the novel everything makes (more) sense.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">So what I can say about the book is that the most "tangible" aspect in itself is worth reading: a very incisive critique of how the social networks and their intrinsic perverse side affects us. This is not a book against social networks, far from it: the author enjoys a privileged perspective in terms of diagnosis of our age and at the same time provides us with a fascinating proposal for a possible future of our society: great the concept of Toycene. And of course there is more, but here we enter the realms of... Hegel.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm sorry if I've been unclear with this review. Do I recommend it? Yes, but bear in mind that it is an Adam Roberts book.</div></span></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-36914314584529607502022-10-27T22:31:00.005+02:002022-11-11T12:43:27.882+01:00Historia cultural de los ovnis en España 1950-1990 de Ignacio Cabria<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">Excelente trabajo sobre el fenómeno OVNI, analizado desde un enfoque socio/antropológico. Tirando a momentos de ironía, y de escepticismo durante todo el libro, el autor consigue una magnífica crónica sobre la evolución de este mito moderno en nuestro país. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DLXQ7tYNPqfqgQIk8uwBn7eaodyiOodR-HUS_4FN_of8D2R7qsU_1q3-L2S_w90mUR0wOzjdNWlE5hJHTRfsmC2il-EUptg2KvsDIOCYmxTg2vK5ULzq12xksdmqs1oGa865gaK0cIKSObH7YAPuJ-ktzVVq3_OeCQXMMU51TKYPuRwgRnW7i7pd/s648/1507-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="400" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DLXQ7tYNPqfqgQIk8uwBn7eaodyiOodR-HUS_4FN_of8D2R7qsU_1q3-L2S_w90mUR0wOzjdNWlE5hJHTRfsmC2il-EUptg2KvsDIOCYmxTg2vK5ULzq12xksdmqs1oGa865gaK0cIKSObH7YAPuJ-ktzVVq3_OeCQXMMU51TKYPuRwgRnW7i7pd/w304-h490/1507-1.jpg" width="304" /></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Por estas páginas vemos pasar los primeros sucesos de platillos volantes (via importación cultural de los EEUU, tanto de sus propios “casos reales” como de las películas de ciencia ficción) hacia una posterior evolución del objeto de estudio: de los ovnis de Marte a los astronautas antiguos y después a las abducciones. De ahí a la aparición de las sectas milenaristas que reciben mensajes celestiales (mezclando visitantes y religión, incluyendo sectas) y finalmente a una ufología más crítica o escéptica que es la que acaba suscribiendo el autor, en una evolución personal coincidente con la de muchos otros investigadores. En el caso de la ufología española a destacar el escándalo que supuso el caso "Ummo".</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">El libro es también un homenaje a todas las personas que dedicaron talento, tiempo y esfuerzos en un campo de estudio en el que creían firmemente. Como suele suceder, unas pocas lograron dedicarse profesionalmente a este tema, como escritores o periodi</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">stas divulgadores la mayoría.</span></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hoy en día oímos hablar mucho menos de ovnis, parece cosa del siglo pasado, pero la ufología sigue activa, diluida entre las otras denominadas paraciencias. De hecho, en mi opinión ni de lejos es la más descabellada de las actuales creencias metafísicas (por no mencionar el terraplanismo).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Un libro muy recomendable para entender como una sociedad moderna en la que vivimos, la cual se presupone ilustrada, continúa necesitando de estos mitos; y a su vez de cómo los <i>mass media</i> -actualmente deberíamos añadir Internet y las redes sociales- actúan como agentes de propagación de estas creencias.</span></span></p>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-82302502379214362762022-10-18T13:49:00.004+02:002022-10-18T14:21:35.687+02:00Mickey7 by Edward Ashton<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpIs48X0jlGnWYjXIKD9sYy7KFgiZOIZNkE7IVwD7d-4hpQ2Q-1FUDo5xXm5411FOGoCQ2cBXvJWfhulOiaKLH4MV7fr_QBtoaXtCxc4NWat06mnBsT7EQCN4DvX3bfKtgD3KGgS3buf5y4-7l6PnhS6-9-ERTPrSeM1rgUdbN6YTPBfvuTgxjRnp/s1080/images%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="710" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpIs48X0jlGnWYjXIKD9sYy7KFgiZOIZNkE7IVwD7d-4hpQ2Q-1FUDo5xXm5411FOGoCQ2cBXvJWfhulOiaKLH4MV7fr_QBtoaXtCxc4NWat06mnBsT7EQCN4DvX3bfKtgD3KGgS3buf5y4-7l6PnhS6-9-ERTPrSeM1rgUdbN6YTPBfvuTgxjRnp/w421-h640/images%20(1).jpeg" width="421" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Even though the main plot looks like a clone sitcom (here you can <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60395226-mickey7" target="_blank">see the synopsis of the book</a>, but it is a bit spoileous), I almost found more interesting the worldbuilding. That is, for example, when the story explains how the various beachheads -the other colonizing starships- have been able to establish themselves, or have failed to colonize other potentially worlds. The implications that cloning technology has for humanity in general and particularly for the main character in relation to the contract as an expendable person have also seemed well thought out to me. And the planet ecology is well thought out.</span></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-fccc4fd3-7fff-73d4-0d60-83f3dd1b0ed7"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">That said, it does not mean that the main plot is not entertaining enough to make it worth reading, but at least for me this tone of tragicomedy suits it only partially; specifically in the comedy part, providing some hilarious situations but about the tragic I don't empathize enough with the Mickeys.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So the reading was good enough. With more free time I would read the sequel, but unfortunately this is not the case. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkiQxVQrRiQafyofSIu0Kt9cyGAb-txBreAHqWZELznf49SqZWNQZn3XCU0CxANSiLO8wsGKQ6B1XA8BxEqz2e5N6ajRxTTJKoGjOSyvWikDPqC2f4hlieR7TptS_T0Sw7Ttj0iYfKuA1wkX13NMnxXrIwa0g9S6aUVA_PAG0pdIqRgjY9Cv6Eh7Fj/s1920/B09QYTXWT7_c8b8a2bf_cover.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1230" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkiQxVQrRiQafyofSIu0Kt9cyGAb-txBreAHqWZELznf49SqZWNQZn3XCU0CxANSiLO8wsGKQ6B1XA8BxEqz2e5N6ajRxTTJKoGjOSyvWikDPqC2f4hlieR7TptS_T0Sw7Ttj0iYfKuA1wkX13NMnxXrIwa0g9S6aUVA_PAG0pdIqRgjY9Cv6Eh7Fj/w410-h640/B09QYTXWT7_c8b8a2bf_cover.jpeg" width="410" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-44638923235070109482022-10-05T21:55:00.001+02:002022-10-05T21:56:33.999+02:00Our Lady of Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Very good! <i>Our Lady of Artilects</i> is one of the most enjoyable reads so far this year, which for me it is more than enough.</span></span></div><p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffYKCLM10-77yT3PrJcJAEkLZeRC5gK5GSoUyT8MRAtEEKhvNcYwj2mwdkvufoVpsqZRBhmZhEvP_vCIQz-sfwHIsLreJPxg3mJmEFAug4v7CexOlHYpJosYWwBena7_ZgAWxIyD7g7X1aHztV8d07NQrqpOU7ww2OZugh1jXtDaYdI6IZCxuVA5Z/s475/61306548._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffYKCLM10-77yT3PrJcJAEkLZeRC5gK5GSoUyT8MRAtEEKhvNcYwj2mwdkvufoVpsqZRBhmZhEvP_vCIQz-sfwHIsLreJPxg3mJmEFAug4v7CexOlHYpJosYWwBena7_ZgAWxIyD7g7X1aHztV8d07NQrqpOU7ww2OZugh1jXtDaYdI6IZCxuVA5Z/s320/61306548._SY475_.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>Since it gives the impression that it is a first work of an amateur writer and also an edition of few means, automatically I started looking for flaws (it is like one of these fascinating conditioning via neural implants of the book). And flaws it has: the future that is described has some inconsistencies and is outlined in a somewhat simplistic way, and I am not referring to the political situation (captivating but of which it only shows an outline, if you read it you will already understand). Regarding this shocking political situation of the future, at some point the novel evokes the fascinating <i>Too Like the Lightning</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Since I have mentioned Ada Palmer’s novel, I must clarify that <i>Our Lady of Artilects</i> is situated at the antipodes of that one and while the former gets lost in thoughtful disquisitions, this one only tries to tell a story that captivates you and in this undoubtedly it succeeds. I would describe <i>Our Lady of Artilects</i> as a thriller from a more or less distant future (100 years from now approximately), with an original and well-thought-out worldbuilding, but its best quality is that it is highly entertaining. So, I think that the reading should be approached as an action movie of those in which you have a great time, with the logical limitations of a script for this type of cinema.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">If you are curious to see how the author manages to combine religion in a more or less distant future and at the same time robots and exorcism, you should read this novel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr. Gillsmith, write more stories please!</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxpNrwFyxDKIazs-KYg-wDmp3sWWO9yA51SUPAdRsa1-0O-HLluybayx24qqe9P8LfP5oBrAsHN_M-Mcn2TUwaKo258P6AIpem1tYFtQgvDGCEL1HXj-S4IuhCPF2cvi-ahSm6UQhlpZh-YLpqNEvEU6Avdu17cWhIA-q0GpKagVhq5hGiUJQSPB6/s413/61110006._SX318_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxpNrwFyxDKIazs-KYg-wDmp3sWWO9yA51SUPAdRsa1-0O-HLluybayx24qqe9P8LfP5oBrAsHN_M-Mcn2TUwaKo258P6AIpem1tYFtQgvDGCEL1HXj-S4IuhCPF2cvi-ahSm6UQhlpZh-YLpqNEvEU6Avdu17cWhIA-q0GpKagVhq5hGiUJQSPB6/s320/61110006._SX318_.jpg" width="246" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div></div></span></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-7198634847122244932022-09-29T22:39:00.006+02:002022-10-02T16:05:25.500+02:00The Prestige by Christopher Priest<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is a shame but it was my first Christopher Priest reading. Well, I'm impressed.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b226947e-7fff-dfc2-9b16-3cde40fedcf5"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">First of all I must say that it has been a delight to listen to this audiobook, congratulations to the narrator, Mr. Simon Vance (and of course the author, but I will say this later). I had heard a lot about this novel but really I knew little about the plot apart from the rivalry between the two magicians. Also, I have not seen the movie either, which I am told is quite different from the novel. Better this way, I can read it without preconceived ideas, something difficult in a book as well known as this one.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bxbejYqonkrlwruT5yNEwZYB2QGH61FyreIIn8GWxpXT77Bybq2rMIsUP1O3xFh9J7w9lY5rVpzLPiwbbnUdJqfQ9l4pSgjct_QWATC4OFrNLBp3ncviq_dgGRd8xZbRXwWH946I6WQaJQ5P8n-_1BTEU4d6Ii200PQzZDcB1shVF5eaQkFMUfsT/s1091/The%20Prestige%20-%20Blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1091" data-original-width="722" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bxbejYqonkrlwruT5yNEwZYB2QGH61FyreIIn8GWxpXT77Bybq2rMIsUP1O3xFh9J7w9lY5rVpzLPiwbbnUdJqfQ9l4pSgjct_QWATC4OFrNLBp3ncviq_dgGRd8xZbRXwWH946I6WQaJQ5P8n-_1BTEU4d6Ii200PQzZDcB1shVF5eaQkFMUfsT/w424-h640/The%20Prestige%20-%20Blog%20de%20ciencia%20ficci%C3%B3n.webp" title="Cover form the Audible edition" width="424" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cover from the Audible edition</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />About my reading, sorry, about my listening I can say that it has managed to captivate me from the first moment. It is not the typical novel with an intrigue that catches you but the events and how the author narrates them, with so many exquisite details about the time and particularly about the world of illusionism, immediately leave their m</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">ark on you. So I have been fascinated by the study of illusionism in itself, with a whole subculture based on perception deception; but more than that, in which the spectators collaborate without realizing it. Really impressive.</span></span><p></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">One aspect to highlight is the development of the plot. Until almost the end the author does not put his cards on the table -if I may use this prestidigitator expression-, but I must clarify that it is not a question of playing misdirection like a… illusionist; or yes, perhaps it is: so you simply must participate -as a reader- in this (literary) magic show and wait to see what the magician/author pulls out of his hat. Also there is an astonishing ending, which I have been anticipating throughout the novel (you just must read the index) but you can not imagine how it will impact you.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Needless to say, this will not be my last reading of the author.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-59916836674983644292022-09-16T11:16:00.002+02:002022-09-16T11:19:17.537+02:00Spaceling by Doris Piserchia<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1VAfvS3j7jHR9wcrIVeiufBfLMKBodr-kpWQcMLDy0iGTymBVGYQT0Go2U4EFIo1GhW3-XgU0Z4CwfCRyvjeH4AjX0q0zEQfTvyr0FTLQf6PSyxzZkg8BSNdxQ9uFmgnrO_HAiGO4Wx27p2JDgHHUg-yW05DZlz2TgigDHAXDSqvXqojQJAVkvRVu/s1080/Piserchia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="703" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1VAfvS3j7jHR9wcrIVeiufBfLMKBodr-kpWQcMLDy0iGTymBVGYQT0Go2U4EFIo1GhW3-XgU0Z4CwfCRyvjeH4AjX0q0zEQfTvyr0FTLQf6PSyxzZkg8BSNdxQ9uFmgnrO_HAiGO4Wx27p2JDgHHUg-yW05DZlz2TgigDHAXDSqvXqojQJAVkvRVu/w416-h640/Piserchia.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">A curious novel, totally New Wave (first published in 1978).</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-090b77bb-7fff-a6e3-df4b-4a9df69d0b44"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Synopsis: Adventures and intrigues in which a 15-year-old girl finds herself involved, in a future where some humans can travel interdimensionally. In other dimensions the human body transforms into a totally different being, adapted to the new environment. For example, in a volcanic world uninhabitable for humans, the character becomes a sort of giant otter (see the hardcover edition art below).</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It gets a little confusing with all the interdimensional back and forth and also for all the characters and how they come in and out of the story. At some point the story evokes or suggests to me what I assume would be an astral travel or a drug-type experience.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An interesting author, until now I had not read any of her works, but I plan to read more of hers.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinn6Iw4vtVwGud4jeJRCv4Skobi29STDmgDk2uNx-yXEGMYJAJ4urlOLhCLSbNJsTYByw5_Nwq8jPMb7T4aaVE7jpp1_KMVzXolnRoXifyuE4Zq23vRCqjQJInYYERbDNBblw766vEwoaxdaKdRMfIyXHUegvln_mfLFwqxKJobfzxwTcOZCMRqt2z/s2500/A1-YDc7HafL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1776" data-original-width="2500" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinn6Iw4vtVwGud4jeJRCv4Skobi29STDmgDk2uNx-yXEGMYJAJ4urlOLhCLSbNJsTYByw5_Nwq8jPMb7T4aaVE7jpp1_KMVzXolnRoXifyuE4Zq23vRCqjQJInYYERbDNBblw766vEwoaxdaKdRMfIyXHUegvln_mfLFwqxKJobfzxwTcOZCMRqt2z/w640-h454/A1-YDc7HafL.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span><p></p><br /><br /><br />Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-86464462261676881712022-09-09T09:58:00.003+02:002022-09-09T09:58:31.957+02:00Inversions (the Culture series #6) by Iain M. Banks<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2X1qmG3dq7iB1e40B9aqTiX0jSPn3zURkJLHoRku8T1Z-tkGwgC96xim3_QmuJuPan615LaKTrUDjklsqSGc5lL7Yl0JVzdQpyuG5ZkkuFwLW8p9hl8h7EGetAUN3Of_d6yxv_hOoohced_iKJEsSvTZX9MY_yc0jg9k2DsoeCQ3s10uorHgE0en/s1000/7155JwU-cvL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="632" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2X1qmG3dq7iB1e40B9aqTiX0jSPn3zURkJLHoRku8T1Z-tkGwgC96xim3_QmuJuPan615LaKTrUDjklsqSGc5lL7Yl0JVzdQpyuG5ZkkuFwLW8p9hl8h7EGetAUN3Of_d6yxv_hOoohced_iKJEsSvTZX9MY_yc0jg9k2DsoeCQ3s10uorHgE0en/w405-h640/7155JwU-cvL.jpg" width="405" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><i><br /></i></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">Inversions</i><span style="font-family: verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;"> meets the expectations of the previous novels set in the Culture, although it presents a different situation than the one the author had accustomed us to in this series. Far from the space orbitals and the magnificent ships -and their insurmountable names-, in this case the author immerses us in a medieval world, a world closer to fantasy -although it falls within the science fiction genre as well-, a world that I would say it evokes the novels of Jack Vance.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-bb6a45a1-7fff-eb06-660d-34b8e8fbd5e1"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In this imagined world, the author concocts a well-developed history of medieval intrigues and only with a few brief notes on the galactic context of Culture, to which he does not allude directly at any time. To highlight the role of women in this story and the criticism of the patriarchal environment, which makes it a very current novel.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The author passed away in 2013, leaving us with no more stories of Culture that he surely had left to tell us. We miss you very much Mr. Banks.</span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-19705494638378860752022-08-25T22:27:00.003+02:002022-09-09T09:59:25.345+02:00R.U.R. by Karel Čapek<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wI2Mlx5Ylp4aj0p2Nn8tNskuj8veLIre1jzUpGwbHSMg5QS9wEnV3hCwLks3C1AxfAkuNcVX_985Gqt8qKXbOZIO4T9d9bxpS3uwXbZP-zh1lpGKhBocy8NDbvId0D4dkMB4ggVzHHRPXabMfNZxi4ocLK00Yr9jE-6Sp9Ulu_J7-XpfIS5ygGaM/s766/RUR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wI2Mlx5Ylp4aj0p2Nn8tNskuj8veLIre1jzUpGwbHSMg5QS9wEnV3hCwLks3C1AxfAkuNcVX_985Gqt8qKXbOZIO4T9d9bxpS3uwXbZP-zh1lpGKhBocy8NDbvId0D4dkMB4ggVzHHRPXabMfNZxi4ocLK00Yr9jE-6Sp9Ulu_J7-XpfIS5ygGaM/w418-h640/RUR.jpg" width="418" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;">On summer holidays I take the opportunity to dedicate myself to some science fiction classics that I have pending to read. I had heard so much about this theatrical play written in 1920 but this has not prevented me from being surprised in some aspects.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">The first part of the book is fascinating, I think it is the most worthwhile for today's reader, the creation of robots and their function to serve humanity. This part shows a clear influence of the current of economic thought of Taylorism and in turn it can be glimpsed a criticism of the unbridled production of consumer goods that ultimately, although it would not lead to a robots revolt, would be one of the triggering factors of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Also noteworthy, following the aforementioned industrialist ideas of the time -for example, Taylorism had great influence on the development of the Soviet State-, the dehumanized thoughts by the managers of Rossum Universal Robots and, in contrast, the most humanitarian and secondary role, absolutely sentimental, by the only woman in the cast; although in the end these feelings become more important as a path to a future redemption... I think this female role would clearly influence the woman/robot in the novel and film <i>Metropolis</i> (Thea Von Harbow, Fritz Lang, 1925/1927).</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">About the second and third parts of the book one must accept them as they are: some dialogues seem absurd to me, or at least incomprehensible in today stardards; it looks like an acid sitcom in which humanity ends up extinguished by its own creations.</div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><div style="text-align: justify;">In short, a worthwhile reading, a work of great influence on science fiction, inaugurating the subgenre of robots. For example, to take into account -with the permission of Mr. Isaac Asimov and his Laws of Robotics- the magnificent development of some of the issues dealt in this book in <i>The Humanoids</i> (1948) by Jack Williamson.</div></span></span><p></p>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-83182576719867830022022-08-24T14:14:00.003+02:002022-09-09T09:59:47.480+02:00The Universe Between by Alan E. Nourse<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3u1h0PaG7as3GqPiMc5BbU66BUy4u2cv_JMbvJUlMpBlpf7oUgnfWxg_C5_CH_CaKCWhsQYr9q0itQIQqMyO-AVxuiQWK0XAviKcjW73_PhMqAD7RwulYSTSVCDZ9W4L9lu2i7Tzbc2witH60cz4VbLO7EV4LThRL6QvYI-WAEvNHbAc4deQFJhoF/s500/5176CuozXQL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="310" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3u1h0PaG7as3GqPiMc5BbU66BUy4u2cv_JMbvJUlMpBlpf7oUgnfWxg_C5_CH_CaKCWhsQYr9q0itQIQqMyO-AVxuiQWK0XAviKcjW73_PhMqAD7RwulYSTSVCDZ9W4L9lu2i7Tzbc2witH60cz4VbLO7EV4LThRL6QvYI-WAEvNHbAc4deQFJhoF/w397-h640/5176CuozXQL.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;">I love retrofuturism, so I love classic science fiction that is based on ideas that today may be considered outdated, partially or totally, or in concepts that have evolved to a different vision. A typical example is telepathy, with masterpieces like <i>Dying Inside</i> by Robert Silverberg or <i>The Demolished Man </i>by Alfred Bester.<i> </i></div></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">In the case that concerns us, the novel deals with… the fourth dimension! Well, as far as I know -I'm not a scientist- today the concept has evolved into a slightly (?) different thing, what we would call alternate realities due to quantum physics, and today -again as far as I know- the fourth dimension it is considered to be time itself. On the other hand, the idea of a multiverse is still very much in vogue today, for example in superhero comics and movies/series.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">About the novel itself, it is very entertaining and even with some moments of sense of wonder, and I must warn the reader about certain apparent anachronisms that are not such. So for me, this is one of the "good" classics, that is, worth reading even after seventy years (it was first published in 1951!). It should be noted that the great novel <i>The Gods Themselves</i> by Isaac Asimov, also about alternative universes and the possibility of exploiting their resources, was written twenty years later than this one.</div></span></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-21990311805033180092022-08-06T15:33:00.001+02:002022-09-09T10:00:03.989+02:00Crash by J.G. Ballard<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHSsOxsqTmIgHHOdCIJJEy9BTpTPyl_xoQIuGqLszOQYncwoXFxluYkiHAGaRQiylMogcf0vH6gktaD1oiUJUOQbtQujBBAecXVwESJk6-XjrGveCxN19f27AB1qp1YwCOr9KH7MZcqN1FJr7PGmFWVVLiivOUC2foqZP2IiKqISwBISw_lhrUEqe/s648/y648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="422" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHSsOxsqTmIgHHOdCIJJEy9BTpTPyl_xoQIuGqLszOQYncwoXFxluYkiHAGaRQiylMogcf0vH6gktaD1oiUJUOQbtQujBBAecXVwESJk6-XjrGveCxN19f27AB1qp1YwCOr9KH7MZcqN1FJr7PGmFWVVLiivOUC2foqZP2IiKqISwBISw_lhrUEqe/w416-h640/y648.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><i>"</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: verdana; text-align: justify;"><i>I wanted to write a book in which there was nowhere to hide",’he told David Pringle in 1975. ‘I wanted the reader, once I’d got him inside the book, never to lose sight of the subject matter. As long as he continued reading he was face to face with the subject matter. It would have been easy to write a conventional book about car crashes in which it was quite clear that the author was on the side of sanity, justice and against injuring small children, deaths on the road, bad driving, etc. What could be easier? I chose to completely accept the demands of the subject matter, which was to provoke the reader by saying that car crashes are good for you, you thoroughly enjoy them, they make your sex life richer, they represent part of the marriage between sex, the human organism, and technology’." </i>(from "Crash (English Edition)" by J. G. Ballard, Zadie Smith)</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #181818;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I agree with this and <i>Crash</i> is a great novel. The problem is that now I have changed my driving style.</div></span></span>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-65000749464403326322022-07-30T22:26:00.003+02:002022-07-30T22:28:22.383+02:00The Flight of the Aphrodite by S.J. Morden<p><br /></p><table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; table-layout: fixed; text-align: justify; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhju6LvjNJrjsamMoDR5jkZjKT3xdXZHJKxaAjXBqxwNMMEdBQi1mT61yycn4ElQpSk-bR73E9owwHjyNoiix247auEGx7Ip-SI4kkdXD9fMAHgbPtV13Kl2JKM5_Rdg7fGhMDjJcSabgFfOwvK0IrHGSLcTFGiSWyP1jT1T_8-BP8MrgRmruIUNUoW/s2550/59124891._UY2560_SS2560_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="1653" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhju6LvjNJrjsamMoDR5jkZjKT3xdXZHJKxaAjXBqxwNMMEdBQi1mT61yycn4ElQpSk-bR73E9owwHjyNoiix247auEGx7Ip-SI4kkdXD9fMAHgbPtV13Kl2JKM5_Rdg7fGhMDjJcSabgFfOwvK0IrHGSLcTFGiSWyP1jT1T_8-BP8MrgRmruIUNUoW/w414-h640/59124891._UY2560_SS2560_.jpg" width="414" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">I had a great time with this novel, it is good to read hard science fiction from time to time.</span></div><span class="readable reviewText" style="font-size: small; line-height: 21px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The Flight of the Aphrodite is a more than correct novel about discovery, although the author focuses as much or more on the characters and especially on the problems of a prolonged space travel. I have a question about the plausibility of the argument but I don't know whether to discuss it with an author who is both a rocket scientist and a planetary geologist.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Please, more novels like this one!</div></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-69804112394209670032022-07-21T15:19:00.005+02:002022-07-21T19:29:28.853+02:00The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi<p> </p><p><br /></p><table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; table-layout: fixed; text-align: justify; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQpmUlT2dUq0iVzvuOGo5seOKNfzuMC0Drp0mrQaWla4eu6KTBk0-ga-lf0PN6SzxEDoIKQcwyL_0TAPYHDJA5O-5dVwTABADdWwiNk11l0n673_gaqdfkIU_lvZx5mroxnRLFTfFLHgNQFY5ejadckzcthVWJ9R6de-i4FJ8ogYgPKFV8lrxDUnH/s927/kaiju.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQpmUlT2dUq0iVzvuOGo5seOKNfzuMC0Drp0mrQaWla4eu6KTBk0-ga-lf0PN6SzxEDoIKQcwyL_0TAPYHDJA5O-5dVwTABADdWwiNk11l0n673_gaqdfkIU_lvZx5mroxnRLFTfFLHgNQFY5ejadckzcthVWJ9R6de-i4FJ8ogYgPKFV8lrxDUnH/w414-h640/kaiju.jpeg" width="414" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">F</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">airly good! It is almost impossible for me not to like a novel like this one, about giant monsters, better known as kaiju. In this case John Scalzi concocts a good story, very well thought out, and blends masterfully the pop culture imaginary of giant monsters (wich basically comes from movies, wich I love absolutely all of them, especially the classics from the fifties and sixties) with a plausible science fiction novel.</span></div><span class="readable reviewText" style="line-height: 21px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">The novel offers an humorous side to most situations - even tragic ones- and many references to monster movies and science fiction in general (for example the long reference in the first chapter to Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I had a great time. Please, Mr. Scalzi, I need a sequel to this novel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQ3Du5aiYX-EVH3ogkUeSz75Ovd8OWf6Q-GYxMBjDIExae1t0AMh6K8wuL8_jnwF8EKZ5S3EiLiZ30FgjqURCwzRCD8wWJVPa-FpVEOuyEKbG83rC6EkgfsaMXhX0OXl8IRL4mhc44SU8sPptV8WCwyKFyTfge6xYZ472KMJwjNL7O3HKhboNpYUS/s500/187f720cf3ba1e86eb27935d498f7499%20(1).gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="500" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQ3Du5aiYX-EVH3ogkUeSz75Ovd8OWf6Q-GYxMBjDIExae1t0AMh6K8wuL8_jnwF8EKZ5S3EiLiZ30FgjqURCwzRCD8wWJVPa-FpVEOuyEKbG83rC6EkgfsaMXhX0OXl8IRL4mhc44SU8sPptV8WCwyKFyTfge6xYZ472KMJwjNL7O3HKhboNpYUS/w400-h235/187f720cf3ba1e86eb27935d498f7499%20(1).gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span>From the movie "Gorgo" (1961).</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-39979293844342856002022-07-16T15:48:00.000+02:002022-07-16T15:48:30.512+02:00Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes<p> </p><p><br /></p><table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; table-layout: fixed; text-align: justify; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="readable reviewText" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmc5q6KhWVgXpS3GXuPWRdQHii_yR7uzgwFC_0HnQR7GQ65XHgXKGwwCGFs9WQFasqgeA7py5uVPsvO2kjb1rE9zLpd_Mbvhvs81RfVPEMAambNCiW_crNPkBMIi_TZKzNYZqbbedsj6GJZovEcZtO5sKA8hEL115ZtKIaQpfpTLtAH5VesAjAp3A/s1621/57693184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1621" data-original-width="1050" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmc5q6KhWVgXpS3GXuPWRdQHii_yR7uzgwFC_0HnQR7GQ65XHgXKGwwCGFs9WQFasqgeA7py5uVPsvO2kjb1rE9zLpd_Mbvhvs81RfVPEMAambNCiW_crNPkBMIi_TZKzNYZqbbedsj6GJZovEcZtO5sKA8hEL115ZtKIaQpfpTLtAH5VesAjAp3A/w414-h640/57693184.jpg" width="414" /></a></div><br />Entertaining but not more. The first half of the plot is very similar to the movie "Event Horizon" seasoned with the vicissitudes of the character Ripley from the first two "Alien" movies. The second half of the book improves and the story develops in a more original way. In favor I can say that the story is competently told. This and the characters help to maintain the attention of the novel until the end.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079212471773924067.post-51366227199493365802021-11-22T19:18:00.002+01:002022-10-05T22:03:36.444+02:00Never by Ken Follett<p><br /></p><table border="0" cellspacing="1" class="myActivity" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; table-layout: fixed; text-align: justify; width: 100%px;"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOgrE4RUWSSAjmf87lg4DTMAkfmXbPPTB9Mo90d0UE3l2ZdLs0c7IeN8QEWmB9rnH1WdMwqF1uDncZ2lX0ddMAVmYUC_Z7CwlOmln7xluViw89eYKAdB-nPMOsT9rFYMRlNoPoi6UxLc/s2048/810h48SI0kS.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1331" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOgrE4RUWSSAjmf87lg4DTMAkfmXbPPTB9Mo90d0UE3l2ZdLs0c7IeN8QEWmB9rnH1WdMwqF1uDncZ2lX0ddMAVmYUC_Z7CwlOmln7xluViw89eYKAdB-nPMOsT9rFYMRlNoPoi6UxLc/w260-h400/810h48SI0kS.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>Despite its length, Never is a quick and agile read befitting its best-seller style.</span></div><span class="readable reviewText" style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among my concerns recently I am interested in the topic of a possible third world war. In this regard, this book, without contributing anything particularly innovative, provides us with a story - conveniently dramatized, as corresponds to this type of reading - plausible enough about some causes that could lead (or not) to a dreaded Third World War.</div><span id="freeTextreview4331662688"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Specifically, the story explains the global political context from different points of view of its protagonists: a CIA spy, an infiltrator in an Islamic terrorist group under her charge, a Chinese vice minister and the madam president of the United States of America. These characters are seasoned with their corresponding sentimental context, bringing us closer to how this story would be told if it were in a movie.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="freeTextreview4331662688">A very entertaining read in which it is not necessary to highlight the talent of Ken Follett, both in his way of captivating us with a good story and in the knowledge necessary to tell it.</span> </div></span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Carlexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05096892945383594818noreply@blogger.com0